Date Night

For our date night last night, we went to an art gallery in North Park for a showing by artist Eliot Greenwald. Neither of us had heard of him, and we didn't love, love, love his work, but we had the chance to meet and talk to Eliot. He's a young guy, probably 25, and he explained to us the progression of the works on exhibit. We were able to appreciate his art more because of it. If you want to see his work, go to www.thewhitepencil.com.

We walked around the neighborhood a little, and came upon The Linkery, which is well-known in San Diego for its no-tipping policy. Well, more precisely, they automatically add an 18% gratuity to the bill. It's supposed to make the dining experience friendlier and the restaurant staff happier. But anyway, we were very happy, because it was DELICIOUS!!

We really do love going to small neighborhood restaurants that serve well-prepared food. My parents are like that, too, and we always have some wonderful places to check out when we are in Austin.

The Linkery, as you may imagine, features hand-made sausages. But more than that, they are into local foods, served in season. So I had a delicious pork chop with mashed potatoes and roasted beets and carrots, and Rowdy had a charcroute with a sausage, sauerkraut with melted cheese and nice, crusty bread. Our starter was grilled green beans with in ginger soy. And for dessert, I had a chocolate volcano cake and Rowdy had Mexican hot chocolate with homemade cinnamon marshmallows. They serve sage-infused water instead of tap water, which is so wonderful. I also had a delicious glass of iced hibiscus herb tea.

Rowdy took a drink of his hot chocolate and then one of sage water and said, "It's like drinking the outdoors. And by that I mean, it's like drinking in the very best day." How many times have you been able to say that??

It was great to be out with my sweetheart, and so much fun to do something a little different from our norm. We loved The Linkery so much that we're taking Rowdy's parents there for Christmas Eve dinner.